Palm Treo 650 (GSM)
Average Ratings
TREO 650!!!
This is a great phone. I saw that the average review was a 2, so I had to give my review. I own this phone and although it is quite tall, I love it. The video capture is poor, but at least it has. Anyone who complains about this phone is spoiled.
Awful Unreliable Phone
I've had the 650 for a week. It is a stellar concept with a very poor phone or OS, it locks up regularly. A hard boot (battery removal, no soft reboot is available) is required. I am very disappointed, since it would be perfect if it only worked as a phone. Yesterday a colleague called but my phone didn't ring, even though it was blinking green (on). It had locked up. It locks up a LOT!
PROS
Crisp screen.
Good keyboard tactiles.
Good native Excel/Word editing (DataViz).
Flexible contact list and synching.
SD slot - I bought 1gb card.
Nonvolatile memory remains with no power.
Removable battery, good life.
Good camera if VGA is ok. Great for me.
Bluetooth.
Ringer volume is good.
CONS
Unreliable, locks up.
Favorites buttons (speed dial) cannot be edited after being set. My password is accidentally programmed in the voicemail button, will be there forever.
Bluetooth implementation is sketchy and v1.1
Speaker/earphone volume is low.
This phone is going back. I will be looking for this exact function in a package that actually works.
The Best Phone I Have Owned!
I have always looked to Phone scoop when buying a new phone so I decided it was my time to contribute. I bought a Treo 650 a month ago from eBay slightly used and unlocked. It looks almost new and came with a year warranty. My Sony Clie PDA was wearing out and I was tired of juggling phone and PDA. I have not been disappointed with the Treo.
PROS: Great sound and reception. I use Cingular and have had not problems with my service. I use an external antenna when traveling to rural areas and have great reception. I can honestly say that I have not had a dropped call EVER since buying this phone. I live in Wichita, Kansas and travel thru Missouri to Arkansas regularly. The PDA part is good and easy to use. Most of the software that I had for my Clie can be used in the Treo. It has a loud ring and after I put my personnel ringtones in, it was perfect. It is comfortable to hold when talking. I do not use Bluetooth so I can't comment on that. It has never locked up on me. The keyboard is nice. I like being able to type my words out like a typewriter.
CONS: Hmmm, well if I had to look for a con it would be the camera. It is so-so. But in all fairness I had been using a SE 810i which has a great little camera. This is the only reason I didn't give the Treo a 5 rating. The battery does seem to run down fast but the book said to keep it topped off rather than letting it run down too low. This is supposed to make the battery last longer overall. I can never get it to charge up to 100%, just 99%. I don't know if that matters.
I plan on keeping this phone a while and will most likely buy another smart phone when the time arises.
Nice Device, But A Little Buggy
This is a nice phone and PDA, but it's a little buggy. It restarts at will when doing various functions. I just got it a couple months ago and have already switched to the SMT5600. I even ordered and got the Vaja I-Volution T66 custom made flip case for it that took 5 weeks to get. Guess I'll be selling it on eBay next week along with the phone and accessories.
Use Sprint's Treo 650, not Cingular's!
I have used the Treo's 300, 600 and now the 650. Not to mention a T-Mobile Sidekick, the AT&T Motorola MPX, a Nextel Blackberry, a Samsung i600, and Treo's are the absolute gods of cell phones!!! The Palm source OS software is very stable, much more then Microsoft's Pocket PC. The battery life on the Treo 600 & 650 is insane! Often times when I'm home laying in bed, I will search the Internet for hours and hours and these phones will still have more then enough battery power to go for a few more hours. When it comes to talk time I have gotten more then five hours talk time on the Treo 650. There is so many programs for the Palm source software, that you will be able to max out the performance on these phones. I use a program called "Speedy 5.0" which allows me to check the MHz rating of the processor at any given time, and most of the time I am running 310MHz, and can peak at 325MHz which is faster then the 312 MHz listed as the standard. I also use a program called "ZLauncher" which allows me to see the exact signal purity in any given location, and I have found I get signals in places where my LG and Sanyo would not. And because I use Sprint PCS's $10 unlimited Visions access with my Treo 650, I never have to worry about going over any data plan rate. I just purchased my Sprint Treo 650 the other day, and I am so mega happy with it! I will remain a loyal Palmone and Sprint PCS customer for a long time to come!
The only problem I have with PalmOne is over price. I wish the Treo's were cheaper. Other then that, I have never had a major problem with my Treo's.
Great phone, poor carrier
Got my 650 a week ago; as a previes Treo 300 owner, was quite thrilled with the upgrade. Initially had a problem accessing voice mail - and still unable to use the "prescribed" voice mail key - was given a "new" voice mail phone number thru Palm One support. It's a minor problem that one of the "favorite" keys is obsolete because of this, but even still - the phone is awesome...
.....wish I could say the same of Cingular Wireless. My gosh - I'll never complain about Spring service (previous carrier) again! Cingular obviously has too many customers with the merger last year - phone reps are quite polite, but they can't get anything done! My activation was a week ago today and I'm still waiting to hear back from rep who sold my the plan - amazing!
You'll love the phone, though.
R.
650 Review
PRO
Good PDA functions
All in one functionality
Size is just right - not too big not too small
Screen is good
Con
Phone locks up
Phone unreliable
Speaker phone too soft
Too bad the phone is not well done. Real shame.
Treo crashes
I thought I had all that I wanted in 1 piece: I needed a reliable phone, organizer and easy web access in one gadget, but much to my disappointment.
I got my Treo650 last Monday (2/7) from cingular and just 2 days later, I had my first experience with a system crash. It froze, got a blank white screen and touching any keys / screen wouldn't do a thing. I had to force it to restart.
I've also experienced the system restarting on its own and when it does, it messes up my quick Dial for Voicemail. Pressing 1 should take me to my Cingular voicemail - but it takes me to a SPRINT voicemail system! I've experienced this 3 times now.
And last night was the worst (2/10), the system froze for so long I had to take out the battery to force it to restart.
I am feeling so disappointed now, I think I'm just gonna have to buy a separate PDA and a separate cellphone.
Big Problems
Just got my cingular Treo 650. Been waiting a year since I put off the 600 when I heard about the 650. However the phone freezes every time I try to call. I dont know if its the cingular network or the palm or both. I am at this moment waiting for tech support at palm to pick up (been here over an hour). Will get back if they can fix it. This really shouldn't happen on a brand new phone. I have only been able to make one completed call in 24 hours-I can only wonder if this version of full of bugs???
If so I am giving it back and selling my Palm shares....
